"If you keep swinging at pitches up around your neck, you're not going to get anywhere," Bagwell told Pence a few days ago.

Is this supposed to be the new guy's genius? Actually, maybe it is.

"If you can't make fun of yourself, you're taking it too seriously," Pence said. "I think it's relaxing. It's not the end of the world. Relax and go hit. No one is perfect. Sometimes the pitcher beats you."

Another time, Bagwell sat on the team plane and dropped small insults on the players as they boarded.

"Go ahead and take a sandwich if you think you earned it," he told a couple of guys.

Bagwell laughed when I repeated a couple of his lines to him.

"You're getting the gist of how I treat these guys," he said. "I'm very honest with them."

Maybe you heard that the Astros changed hitting coaches at the All-Star break. Maybe you were like me in that you thought it was a dumb move, that the organization's problems went far beyond Sean Berry.

Gulp. Cough. Shuffle feet.

This is the portion of the column where I delicately attempt to confess that I may owe general manager Ed Wade an apology. There's a possibility — I admit it's minuscule - that Wade may know more about his baseball team than I do.

Offensive production up

The Astros still might have problems, but there's no question Bagwell's hiring has been a smashing success. Only one National League club had scored fewer runs than the Astros before Bagwell was hired. Only three have scored more since.

Offensive production is up from 3.45 runs per game to 5.46. Johnson's batting average is 50 points higher. Pence's is up 49, Carlos Lee's 38.

Even if you buy that there are other factors, that the influx of youth has contributed to a better clubhouse environment and that veteran players such as Lee and Pence were going to hit at some point anyway, there's absolutely, positively no question Bagwell has made a difference.

He has done it by being brutally honest and by shelving some of the volumes of information players have at their disposal. Less is more?

"There is by far way too much information," Bagwell said. "I try to keep it as simple as possible."

He did that in his first meeting with players. He told them he thought hitting still was about the basics.

"I told 'em what I expect out of them," he said. "I even told 'em what I expect on the base paths, running hard, going first to third, doing it the Astros way. We can look at all the video and all that, but when we get in the batter's box, we've got to compete."

Bagwell's words may have extra meaning because they're coming from a future Hall of Famer. During a 15-season career, he hit 449 home runs and was a four-time All-Star.

Beyond the numbers, he was known as much for his decency and easygoing nature as his performance. He was the guy teammates felt they could call in the middle of the night if they were in trouble.

"I can't go out and be a doctor or anything like that," he said. "But I can talk about hitting. My whole thing is, get a good pitch to hit, swing hard at it and see if you can get a hit. What I want these guys to do is have good at-bats. You find out most guys make outs because they swing at bad pitches. I've been very lucky because I have a bunch of young guys who are willing to learn, willing to listen and try different things. If I had a veteran team, it might be different."

Keeping it simple

Before taking the job, Bagwell and Astros manager Brad Mills had a couple of lengthy chats.

"What we were hoping was for him to be able to talk to the guys in the dugout between at-bats and before they go to the plate," Mills said. "He has done a great job of that. That's what he has brought into the dugout - to be able to converse with guys as they're getting ready to go up there."

Players sometimes are overloaded with pregame reports. There are written reports on a pitcher's tendencies and videos of every pitch a guy has thrown. Bagwell said he pays attention to some of those things and passes along tendencies, etc.

But he believes in keeping it simple.

"When we're out for BP, he'll say things like, 'This guy may have a sinker, so you're going to have to stay inside the ball,' " Johnson said. "He just wants you to have a plan."

There are similar stories from every corner of the clubhouse.

"He'll come up and say, 'You were late getting your foot down,' " Jeff Keppinger said. "He's pretty good at noticing those little quirks. His bigger emphasis is on the mental side of it. He likes to teach you the approach. He's good at talking you through that and helping you understand situations."

Pence, who hit .263 before the change, is hitting .312 since.

"He's tried to back me down," Pence said. "If I'm in the cage and have hit a couple of good ones, he'll say, 'Stop, get out of there.' He brings a confident aura and stresses the importance of relaxing. A lot of times in hitting, we try to make it too complex."

Undecided on next year

Now about the future. Bagwell was reluctant to take the job because he hated the idea of being away from his family. In the end, he decided to give it a 21/2-month tryout and then think about whether to try it for a full season.

He has done much to make the Astros better and to bring the young guys along that it seems a natural fit to have him back. Bagwell said he'll think about it.

"I'd been away five years when Ed called, so it was time to do something," he said. "My kids were OK with it for 21/2 months. I've enjoyed it.

"As for next year, we'll just have to see. It'll be a family decision."

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